ride

present singular third person rides · participle present riding · past rode · obsolete past rade · obsolete past rid · participle past ridden · colloquial nonstandard participle past rode · first person past singular rode · archaic first person past singular rid · archaic first person past singular rade · archaic present second person singular ridest · past second person singular rode · archaic past second person singular rodest · archaic past second person singular rid · archaic past second person singular rade · present singular third person rides

1. ambitransitiveTo transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc.First known use 8th c., transitive usage from 9th c.

   I ride to work every day and park the bike outside the office.

   5 more examples

   Go Peto, to horse: for thou, and I, / Haue thirtie miles to ride yet ere dinner time.

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   […] I will take my horse early to-morrow morning and ride over to Stoke, and settle with one of them.

   1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 310

   He rid to the end of the village, where he alighted and ſent a man thence to Mr. Tuſher with a meſſage that a gentleman of London would ſpeak to him on urgent buſineſs.

   1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “I Go on the Vigo Bay Expedition, Taste Salt Water and Smell Powder”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume II, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 96

   It is characteristic of her that she hates trains, that she arrives from a rail-road journey a nervous wreck; but that she can ride a horse steadily for weeks through the most dangerous western passes.

   1923 April 28, “Mrs. Rinehart”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC

   'He would have rid that horse, too,' pa says, 'if I hadn't a stopped him. A durn spotted critter wilder than a catty-mount. A deliberate flouting of her and me.'

   1930, William Faulkner, “Darl”, in As I Lay Dying (Penguin Modern Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus, published 1980, →ISBN, page 81

2. ambitransitiveTo be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger.First known use 9th c., transitive usage from 19th c.

   In an elaborately built, indoor San Francisco, passengers ride cable cars through quiet, hilly streets.

   1960 June 20, “Biznelcmd”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC

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   Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

3. South AfricaUSinformaltransitiveTo transport (someone) in a vehicle.First known use 17th c.

   The cab rode him downtown.

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   'Hurt him considerably. Ride him down to Bellevue Hospital and dump him nearby. Got that?' 'Yassuh.' 'Don't be seen.' 'Nossuh.'

   1954, Ian Fleming, “No Sensayuma”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 73

4. intransitiveOf a ship: to sail, to float on the water.First known use 10th c.

   By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home […]

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC

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   Why name I ev'ry Place where Youths abound? / 'Tis Loſs of Time; and a too fruitful Ground. / The Bajan Baths, where Ships at Anchor ride, / And wholeſome Streams from Sulphur Fountains glide: […]

   a. 1701, [John] Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Art of Love. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, pages 19–20

5. intransitivetransitiveTo be carried or supported by something lightly and quickly; to travel in such a way, as though on horseback.First known use 10th c.

   The witch cackled and rode away on her broomstick.

6. transitiveTo traverse by riding.

   Early women tobogganists rode the course in the requisite attire of their day: skirts. In spite of this hindrance, some women riders turned in very respectable performances.

   1999, David Levinson, Karen Christensen, Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present

7. transitiveTo convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.

   How many races have you ridden this year?

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   The only men that safe can ride / Mine errands on the Scottish side.

   1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC

8. figurativelytransitiveTo exploit or take advantage of (a situation).

   Now the question is: Can Lema ride his present impetus to a third tournament victory in the pressure-loaded Open or will he run out of steam?

   1964 June 16, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22

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   By labeling milk free of the artificial hormone, the dairy industry can ride the popularity of natural foods, without the greater expense and special feeds required to produce milk that can be fully certified as “organic.”

   2006 October 7, Andrew Pollack, “Which Cows Do You Trust?”, in The New York Times

9. intransitiveTo support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.

   A horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.

10. ambitransitiveslangTo mount (someone) to have sex with them.First known use 13th c.

    She rode him hard, and he squeezed her breasts, and she came again.

    1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, page 345

    2 more examples

    Cowboy. That's what he calls me when we are like this. It's as if I'm sitting in a saddle and he is my horse. And when he starts to buck, I ride.

    1986, Sidney Brinkley, “Passion”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 131

    Isis rode my mug like she was on a ten-inch dick, and as soon as she nutted I tossed her ass off a me and flipped her on her back, then fucked the shit outta her cause it was payback time.

    2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 152

11. IrelandambitransitiveslangTo have sex with (someone).

    Synonyms: do it

12. colloquialtransitiveTo nag or criticize; to annoy (someone).First known use 19th c.

    “One old boy started riding me about not having gone to Vietnam; I just spit my coffee at him, and he backed off.

    2002, Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the haunted generation, page 375

13. intransitiveOf clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle.First known use 19th c.

    In athletics, triple jumper Ashia Hansen advises a thong for training because, while knickers ride up, ‘thongs have nowhere left to go’: but in Beijing Britain's best are likely, she says, to forgo knickers altogether, preferring to go commando for their country under their GB kit.

    2008 July 27, Ann Kessel, The Guardian

14. intransitiveTo rely, depend (on).First known use 20th c.

    With so much riding on the new payments system, it was thus a grave embarrassment to the government when the tariff for 2006-07 had to be withdrawn for amendments towards the end of February.

    2006 March 9, “Grappling with deficits”, in The Economist

15. intransitiveOf clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body).First known use 20th c.

    She's wearing inky-blue jeans that ride low enough on her hips that her aquamarine thong peeks out teasingly at the back.

    2001 September 16, Jenny Eliscu, “Oops...she's doing it again”, in The Observer

16. ball gamesTo play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an attackman.
17. To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.

    The nobility[…] could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, coblers[sic], brewers, and the like.

    1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit

18. medicineTo overlap (each other); said of bones or fractured fragments.
19. transitivebroadcastingTo monitor (some component of an audiovisual signal) in order to keep it within acceptable bounds.

    vocal riding

    2 more examples

    The board operator normally watches the meter scale marked for modulation percentage, riding the gain to bring volume peaks into the 85% to 100% range.

    2006, Simran Kohli, Radio Jockey Handbook

    “You don't want them riding the volume knob, so that's why you learn how to do your levels properly to make the whole thing transparent for the listener. […]

    2017, Michael O'Connell, Turn Up the Volume: A Down and Dirty Guide to Podcasting, page 22

20. entertainmentIn jazz, to play in a steady rhythmical style.

    The quintet in Propheticape muses out-of-measured-time until Holland leads it into swift, riding jazz.

    2000, Max Harrison, Charles Fox, Eric Thacker, The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to postmodernism, page 238

plural rides

1. An instance of riding.

   go for a quick ride

   2 more examples

   Can I have a ride on your bike?

   We took the horses for an early-morning ride in the woods.

2. informalA vehicle.

   pimp my ride

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   That's a nice ride; what did it cost?

   Never park right outside where he live He don't want his ride outside his crib 'Cause they might roll by, recognize it And then come inside at night ready to fire with Guns like he ain't got none

   2020, clipping., “Check the Lock”, in Visions of Bodies Being Burned, via Spotify

3. An amusement ridden at a fair or amusement park.

   the kids went on all the rides

4. A lift given to someone in another person's vehicle.

   Can you give me a ride home?

5. UKA road or avenue cut in a wood, for riding; a bridleway or other wide country path.

   "Mr Fawcett comes down the ride, rushing his chair along like it was a racing car... He carried on down the ride. Next thing Miss Harmsworth comes down the ride from the field..."

   2015, Roderic Jeffries, Death in the Coverts, →ISBN

   1 more example

   We walked, perhaps, half a mile […], and came out suddenly, where five rides met, at a small classic temple between lichened stucco statues which faced a circle of turf, several acres in extent.

   1913, Rudyard Kipling, “The Edge of the Evening”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 276

6. UKarchaicdialectalA saddle horse.

   Stella, who in her day was a beautiful ride.

   1904, Country Gentleman

7. IrelandA person (or sometimes a thing or a place) that is visually attractive.

   Absolutely, and I agree about Madonna. An absolute ride *still*. :-) M.

   2007 July 14, Michael O'Neill, “Re: More mouthy ineffectual poseurs...[was Re: Live Earth - One Of The Most Important Events On This Particular Planet - don't let SCI distract you”, in soc.culture.irish (Usenet)

8. jazzA steady rhythmical style.
9. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of ride cymbal.
10. figurativelyA wild, bewildering experience of some duration.

    That story was a ride from start to finish.

    1 more example

    We all started to dance / Without wearing no life vest / We all started to dance / It was quite a ride

    2002, “Manila”, performed by Seelenluft ft. Michael Smith

11. slangvulgarAn act of sexual intercourse.

    I gave my boyfriend a ride before breakfast.

    Synonyms: shag, fuck, cop, bang

12. A district inspected by an excise officer.
13. historicalmediaA fault caused by the overlapping of leads, etc.